January 28, 2008

By Kenneth Hein

Getting up close and personal isn’t just for politicians. A new survey shows in-person events can boost purchase intent as high as 52%.

According to the report, released this month by the Advertising Research Foundation, New York, purchase intent—a customer’s stated interest in buying a product—rose 11% to 52% among consumers who attended brand-sponsored events including sports championships, walkathons and theme parks. Such purchase intent translated directly to sales about 50% of the time, the report states.

ARF studied 12 companies including Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay and State Farm that ran events. Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., polled about 5,000 consumers online after the events’ conclusion to get the results.

“We used two research firms and three different analyses and it all ended up at the same place: experiential marketing works,” said William Cook, svp-research and standards at the ARF.
That even goes for marketers like State Farm that have no product of their own to hand out at such events. “It’s an added opportunity to create awareness about your brand in relevant situations,” said Mark Gibson, assistant vp- advertising at State Farm, Bloomington, Ill.

Sports-related events have the greatest impact, per the study. “It creates a presence that is unexpected, fresh and different,” said Gibson, whose brand ties in with Major League Baseball and Nascar. “When done right it goes beyond just raising awareness, it literally drives people to shop.”

That’s especially true for business-to-business events. The purchase intent among consumers who interacted with a brand at such events rose 34%. Of the 2,000 consumers polled who attended trade shows in the spring or summer, 20% said they would have bought the brands who were exhibiting regardless of their attendance at the show.

However, purchase intent rose to 54% when customers interacted with the 14 different brands studied. This included Cisco, Dell and Microsoft which were measured across four different events. The shows ranged in size from the Consumer Electronics Show to regional events. Gallup & Robinson and Exhibit Surveys conducted the study online.

Corporations spent nearly $15 billion on U.S. trade shows last year, per IEG, Chicago. Trade show spending is increasing roughly 6% a year, per Veronis Suhler Stevenson, New York.
Nearly half (46%) of attendees felt they had an emotional connection with the brand after interacting with it at a trade show. That’s a 31% lift off of the 15% that would have made that claim regardless.

“The special value of events, sponsorships and trade shows has to be considered,” said Raymond Pettit, co-author and svp at MarketShare Partners in Los Angeles. “There are many connection points you can build at an event whether it is emotional, aspirational or awareness building—it goes beyond just counting audience attendance.”

More research needs to be conducted to “really see the value of event marketing,” said Drew Livingston, owner of TrashTalkFCM, a Los Angeles-based non-traditional agency that also participated in the study. “The goal is to level the playing field with traditional media.”